The earliest recorded case of breast cancer was 3500 years ago. It was only 200 years ago that researchers discovered that breast cancer had the ability to spread and recur. Only a decade ago, we started tracking the risk of breast cancer recurrence and using this information to plan a patient’s course of treatment.

With the evolution of cancer treatment and an increased understanding about the disease, oncologists today understand that a one-size-fits-all approach to cancer patients is not appropriate. The patterns of occurrence exhibited by carcinomas, their tendency to spread and to relapse varies from individual to individual. This understanding has heralded a new era of personalized treatment of cancers.

Personalized treatment planning is the future of medicine and innovative tests which enable the same are an absolute necessity to go along that path.

OncoStem Diagnostics in collaboration with CORE Diagnostics announces the launch of a simple, accessible, affordable and proven test that helps answer the simple question: “Does this patient need chemotherapy?”

OncoStem Diagnostics – a Bangalore-based Oncology focused start-up has tied up with CORE Diagnostics as its exclusive partner to distribute the mammaCORE CanAssist-Breast – India’s first indigenously developed and innovative test to help early stage breast cancer patients determine their risk of cancer relapse. The test is designed for ER+/PR+/Her2- Breast Cancer patients in Stages 1 and 2.

Recurrence is the most dreaded aspect of any cancer. In India, about 150,000 patients get breast cancer every year. Almost all cancer patients undergo surgery, while Chemotherapy (CT) and Radiotherapy (RT) is recommended only for patients who have a ‘high risk for recurrence’.

“With no tests hitherto to ‘predict’ risk of cancer recurrence, 95% of patients get treated with chemo or radiotherapy but only about 20% early stage patients actually recur. Thus, majority of patients are perhaps over-treated and have to bear toxic effects of the treatment which reduces their quality of life and is a monetary drain. This test will help reduce this burden of over-treatment by helping doctors plan treatments while taking into account the risk of relapse. We are extremely excited about the power of this product and are looking forward to help modify the future of breast cancer treatment across the globe.” says Zoya Brar, Founder & MD, CORE Diagnostics.

“CanAssist-Breast test uses clinical parameters in combination with 5 novel biomarkers tested by a well-standardized technique which measures protein expression accurately and then integrates them into a Statistical algorithm to stratify patients as “low or high” risk for recurrence. Thus, using the CanAssist-Breast test, clinicians can plan personalized and optimum therapy for patients. CanAssist-Breast will spare more than 60,000 Breast Cancer patients in India per year and over 660,000 patients worldwide from severe chemotherapy associated toxic effects and costs. Our partnership with CORE Diagnostics will help make this test available to more Indians across the country,” says Dr Manjiri Bakre, Founder & CEO, OncoStem Diagnostics.